On May 3, Northridge High School students and Northridge FFA members Heather Houck and Kenzie Giffin walked across the Ohio FFA State Convention stage to receive their first-place prize in agriscience.

The Ohio State Agriscience Fair aims to recognize students who gain hands-on experience in agriculture research. Students use the scientific method to solve complex problems related to agriculture, food, and natural resources. 

Houck and Giffin’s science project was to test different cleaning methods on calf bottles. They headed to a local dairy farm and filled calf bottles with milk. They then went through two different cleaning processes to see which method had the best results for removing bacteria. The two methods were standard cleaning with soap and bleach, while the second method consisted of washing out the bottle and spraying it with a commercial cleaner.

After experimenting, they put the bottles in an incubator for a week and checked on them daily to see which bottle had the most bacteria. The outcome of their experiment determined that the commercial cleaner did a better job at removing the bacteria.